All 25.0 - Death Knight Ryuji
In the morning following, Cohen and Pierce summoned Xerxes, hoping to get more relevant information from him. After speaking to him, there was some vague hope that he wasn't completely useless, but it was weak at best. At the very best, he thought he might be able to determine where the person who had summoned him last had gone. They also gave a Sending to Julia, to see if she had any further information regarding what to be done; she had nothing, as this was a Materian issue. Meanwhile, Ryuji called his wife, asking her where the closest place they might find a scroll of Stone to Flesh for Tarragon was. After a quick library search, she reported two cities, neither particularly close: Chuama, on the coast of northern Arroyito, and Duvallon near the southern border of Tinoco. After some discussion, the group split in two in order to quickly cover more ground. Victor, his son, Cress, Pierce and Itzli teleported to Chuama, while Ryuji, Cheko, Lucca, Cohen and Clover went to Duvallon. Immediately upon arrival in Duvallon, it was obvious something was wrong. The city was under the influence of the All. Worse still, it was quickly noted that laced among the frozen, panicked populace were numerous zombies, shambling about and appearing to be waiting for something. As they stood in horror, it became clear what exactly that was. They could hear sound in the distance: the All aura was wearing off. Something had destroyed the All in the city, and people were waking up, only to be immediately murdered by the undead that loomed over them. Panicked and without a real idea of what was going on, the adventurers ran to a nearby house for shelter as the horde of zombies began to take notice of them. Stunned by the sheer magnitude of the violence they were immersed in, Ryuji in particular clamoured to be let out, to see if there was anyone to save. He was held back by the others, but they quickly settled on a plan wherein Clover and Ryuji would go scouting: as Cohen said, a mindless horde of zombies couldn't have destroyed the recently-present All, therefore whatever was controlling the zombies had also destroyed their enemy. It had also murdered an entire city of easily 20,000, if not more, and if they had any hope of stopping it, it was while it was still weakened from fighting. Clover mounted the Broom of Flying she had obtained from the jungle shrine and Ryuji took his raven form; both had Invisibility cast on them, and they took to the sky. Working their way around the city, they came to a lordly manor near the center of town, that may have doubled as a city hall. As they flew closer to investigate, a man stepped out onto the balcony, dressed in black robes and who didn't immediately appear to be undead. As they watched him, he gave a command to approach. Clover, taking it as a sign that they had been spotted, turned to leave, but she heard Ryuji mutter something about how he couldn't resist. The man repeated his command, and Clover could hear the telltale sound of wings as her friend complied. Cursing, she sped away to tell the others. After filling them in, they argued about what was to be done. Clover cast disparaging remarks on Cohen's commitment to the team, taking a cue from his acerbic remarks regarding his collar. Putting their difference in opinion aside for the moment, they cast Sending from Pierce's wand to inform him of the ill tidings. He replied that, because he couldn't cast Teleport any further that day, the soonest they could reach them was the next morning. Everyone in Duvallon agreed that the next morning was too long; they needed to get Ryuji back. They crafted a plan, and snuck through the infested town, back towards the manor. Everyone else remained hidden while Clover rang the doorbell of the hall. A few minutes later, she was met by a servant bone golem whose limited intelligence and orders seemed ill-suited for a doorman. Regardless, it left, and returned presently with its master, the man in black robes. He introduced himself as Xander, and seemed utterly baffled by the relatively extreme politeness he was being shown by the woman before him. They had a discussion, where Xander revealed himself to be completely lacking in any sort of remorse or human decency: he had been waiting to conquer this city in the name of the undead of the Underdark for a long time, and whatever these extraplanar things were, they had given him the perfect opportunity. Clover insisted that he return her comrade, but he declined: it wasn't often that such a useful soldier is given to him, and really, she should keep better track of her belongings if they're so important to her. It was a godsend, really, because he knew that now it was only a short matter of time until the amassed army outside the city's walls realized that it was no longer the All that commanded the town, and he needed as many powerful, intelligent soldiers as he could get if he was to solidify his reign of the area and make it into a haven for undead. Not to be dissuaded, Clover challenged him to a duel for control of Ryuji. With no shortage of bewilderment, Xander agreed, mainly because of his belief that if he refused, she was likely just to attack him anyways, so he might as well play along with her polite nature. After making sure that he could send in champions to fight for him, he stepped inside to fetch soldiers, telling her to meet him on the parade grounds outside. Clover, Cheko and Lucca assembled, wondering whether it would be in bad taste to destroy the mindless wandering dead that shambled around them, trying in vain to bite them. When Xander appeared with two bone golems, he himself destroyed a zombie that got too close to him, answering their question. He counted his three opponents and frowned: he had only brought 2, and that wasn't very fair. He thought for a second, then shouted out, summoning Ryuji to the field to play his third. The Yetoman responded to his commands as a loyal soldier would, and stood against them without hesitation or regard. With that, the fight began, with Xander watching placidly and Cohen staying in reserve, waiting for an appropriate moment. The bone golems were not a terrible threat to the ascended warriors, but Ryuji keyed in on Cheko as the weak member. He attacked her repeatedly, nearly killing her, until Cohen jumped out and bodily defended her, giving her the chance to back away. Cohen attempted to bait Ryuji from the battlefield, but a sharp command from Xander brought him back; Xander mulled about the legitimacy of a fourth entering, but Clover maintained that as long as Cohen didn't attack, he hadn't joined, and the rules were just poorly-outlined enough that Xander ceded this. When the two golems were destroyed, Clover called for victory, but Xander waved her off. He would have Ryuji fight to the death, since whether he retired early or fought to the end, he'd lose the soldier anyways; at least this way there was still a vague hope of victory. The group took to the sky in order to heal themselves and regroup, leaving Ryuji on the ground. Lucca demanded retreat: they were all injured, and Ryuji would cut them apart if they didn't kill him. Clover, meanwhile, refused to leave a teammate behind. It was Cohen who yelled out the solution. Ryuji shifted to his raven form in order to get the height he needed to continue fulfilling his orders, whereupon Clover swung her bag of holding, grabbing the bird and sealing it in extraplanar space. With a quick declaration of victory, they sped away, leaving Xander standing there wondering about his very strange afternoon. They flew away from the city at top speed, eventually coming to a small town many miles away. They left Ryuji in the bag, unsure of what his reactions would be, and waited for the rest of the group. The next morning came, and with it the second half of their team. They discussed what they were to do about their mind-controlled friend. Between them, they had enough insight to determine that whatever was controlling him obviously only worked on undead, seeing as how Xander hadn't attempted to control any of them. Cohen pulled out the teardrop earring that he had been carrying: Gemini's Earrings, that allowed two people to switch bodies. If the spell was on his mind and only affected undead, it would be broken if he stopped being undead. Unfortunately, the other earring was in his possession, left in his pocket since they had changed bodies in Engiadina. They gave the one earring to Clover, who volunteered. Cohen offered to give her a tranquilizer: Ryuji was unlikely to be in a good place, and should probably sleep before given control of his faculties. She agreed to this and, with the earring set, she went to sleep. Meanwhile, they pulled Ryuji from his prison. He sat passively, ignoring them utterly, and did not stop them when they pulled the earring out of his pocket and put it in his ear. The switch was made without a fuss; Ryuji slept in Clover's body while she took command of his, free of any sort of compulsion that she could notice. Glad that the ordeal was over, the group gave a sigh of relief and decided to wait the day out in the town, giving Ryuji time to recuperate. Category:Advent of the All